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While Iranians are prevented from engaging in open civic dialogue by strict filtering regimes, another manner of censorship exposes activists and normal users to additional danger. ‘Reverse filtering’ (فیلتر معکوس), as it’s commonly known, is the application of American Treasury sanctions to deny services to Iranian users, generally identified by their IP address. Despite revisions to the law, made March 8 2010, extending a general license for information services and software to non-government users, misapplications and ambiguity continues to unnecessarily fetter Iranians. Trade restrictions, legitimate or not, do little constrain the flow of software to government entities. Instead, individuals receive software updates and privated software in markets and through media passed along, increasing their exposure to spyware and other security issues. For Iran to have a safe Internet, capable of securely sustaining activism, these unfounded prohibitions must end.